DRIVING THE WEEK: SCOTUS COULD RULE ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE CASE: The Supreme Court meets today for its final scheduled session and could rule on a same-sex marriage case that challenges a provision of the Defense of Marriage Act preventing married homosexual couples from claiming tax, health and pension benefits. But if the justices find the 1996 law unconstitutional, gay couples could see a bigger tax bill because of the so-called marriage penalty. That’s because when couples with relatively equal incomes file jointly, the tax breaks they receive often are not as great as if they were filing as single. Edith Windsor brought a suit against the federal government after her partner died — leaving Windsor with a $360,000 tax bill. If Windsor was in a legally recognized marriage, the estate would have passed to her untaxed because of the unlimited exemption for spouses. If the Supreme Court does not issue a ruling Monday, the justices will add sessions to deliver the 12 remaining cases.

TAX EVASION CASES DROP IN ENGLAND: From the Financial Times, “Cases of serious tax evasion in the UK have hit their lowest level in the past five years as HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has ramped up its crackdown on tax evasion. According to figures obtained by Pinsent Mason, the international law firm, there has been a sharp decline in the number of tax evasion cases identified over the past two years, going against the popular notion that tax evasion is on the rise. In the year to March 31 local HMRC offices pinpointed 2,888 suspected cases of serious tax evasion — a 16 per cent drop on the previous year and a 36 per cent drop from 2011 levels.” http://on.ft.com/12coqYG

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STARBUCKS PAYS UP: After a flood of public condemnation, the coffee giant has announced plans to pay £10 million in British taxes this year. Members of Parliament have been unwaveringly in their criticism of Starbucks after discovering that the company’s tax strategies allowed it to pay no taxes in the UK since 2009. “We listened to our customers in December and so decided to forgo certain deductions which would make us liable to pay £10m in corporation tax this year and a further £10m in 2014," a Starbucks spokesperson told the BBC. http://bbc.in/11wYiIx

HAPPY MONDAY. If you forgot about D.C.’s hot, hot heat, this weekend was the perfect reminder of what we can expect for the next two months. Thanks for reading and if you want to talk taxes, email me at lfrench@politico.com. Or tweet me at @ LaurenNFrench. As always, please follow @ POL­­ITICOPro.

ONLINE SALES TAX BATTLE HEADS TO THE STATES: The fight over the online sales tax is heating up in the states and is starting to pit Republicans against members of their own party — again. An issue that split the GOP on Capitol Hill last month — when 21 Senate Republicans voted for the tax and 22 opposed it — is proving just as divisive at the state level. In one corner, GOP governors in Virginia, Wisconsin, Maine and Iowa are pitching voters on the benefits of the levy in an effort to raise pressure on their congressional delegation. Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia, for instance, has promised to use the anticipated revenue to fund transportation projects in his traffic-clogged state. In the other corner, Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, a Republican, is leading the opposition. He launched a coalition earlier this month to fight the online sales tax bill sitting in Congress on the grounds that it’s unconstitutional. http://politi.co/1ccrBkT

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BARCLAYS IN GERMANY’S EYESIGHT: German tax authorities got their hands on internal bank documents from the British lender that showed how Barclays used a legal tax loopholes to claim more tax credits than it paid in short-selling transactions. Now Germany is investigating if Barclay’s tax strategies amount to tax evasion. The trades — first reported by the German newspaper, Daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung — cost taxpayers 280 million euros annually. Barclay’s told Reuters is did not accept the “suggestion of misconduct” The full story: http://reut.rs/19qdrgm

HOUSE AND SENATE DEMOCRATS TO HUDDLE ON TAX REFORM: Tax-writing Democrats from both sides of Capitol Hill will huddle Thursday to talk strategy and messaging for comprehensive tax reform. The meeting between Democrats on the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees was scheduled to help both sides “get a sense of where everyone is,” a House staffer told Morning Tax. To date, most of the bicameral work on tax reform has been between Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus. In fact, the chairmen will tour the country this summer to put a public face on the complex and complicated effort to reform the nation’s tax system. But House Democrats are broadly looking for a seat at the table — and this meeting is intended to help the party come together on goals for tax reform.

CHAT WITH PRO ABOUT HEALTH CARE: Mark your calendars for tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. ET, when @KyleDCheney and @JasonMillman host a POLITICO Pro Health Care Chat on Twitter. They'll be talking all things ACA, and you can join the conversation with #ProChat.

QUICK LINKS:

-- The National Review’s Eliana Johnson slams Rep. Elijah Cummings for protecting the Internal Revenue Service during the agency’s targeting scandal. http://on.wsj.com/19iILRB

-- Playing soccer for the Monaco team has some of the best income tax perks in Europe. The New York Times examines how: http://nyti.ms/15wZau6

-- German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pledging not to raise taxes as part of a slate of “family-friendly policies and the ambitious goal of full employment,” AFP reports. http://bit.ly/10eExnZ

-- The Internal Revenue Service paid issued $46 million in refunds to 24,000 'unauthorized' alien workers — all living at a single address. More from MSN: http://on-msn.com/19tdVCz

DID YOU KNOW? The Internal Revenue Service has a plan on how to collect taxes after a nuclear war.

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Authors:

About The Author

Lauren French covers Congress for POLITICO.She is also one of the authors of Huddle – a must-read morning tip sheet covering congressional news. Lauren is focused on House Democrats and conservative Republicans. She previously covered congressional tax policy and the IRS.Before joining POLITICO, she was an intern with Reuters covering national security and foreign policy and with McClatchy and The Houston Chronicle.She graduated from The George Washington University in 2012 with a major in journalism, but truly received her education as a two-term editor-in-chief for The GW Hatchet. She currently lives in D.C.French hails from both Illinois and Florida, where she enjoys paddle boarding and water sports. She is learning to cook and puts hot sauce on everything.